On the Road with Joanne Robinson: Show #243 Martin Luther King Special

Hello everyone, and Happy New Year!

I wanted to tell you about a special show we taped recently at the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Boston to celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. It was a wonderfully moving show, filled with exceptional performances and stories. It featured the superb Boston Children’s Chorus under the direction of Anthony Trecek-King, whose energy was contagious. The chorus sang several pieces, including “Allelulia” by Randall Thomspon, and the spirituals “My Soul’s Been Anchored In The Lord” and “In His Care-O.”

Also featured, 17-year-old bassoonist Alexandra Nelson played from Sonatine for Bassoon and Piano by Alexandre Tansman and shared with the audience some of her life story, which closely parallels the early musical years of Coretta Scott King.

To top it all off, a string quartet of From the Top alumni performed music by the American composer George Walker and shared how they are using music as a mechanism for community building and social change. This promises to be a wonderful broadcast, so make sure to tune in when it airs over the weekend of Martin Luther King Day!

Until then, don’t miss this fantastic video scrapbook of the day’s events made by the performers themselves (with a little help from my talented colleague Anne Gregory)!